First Drive: Toyota Corolla D-4D

This is a discussion on First Drive: Toyota Corolla D-4D within Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports, part of the Team-BHP Reviews category; Excellent Review Sid..
But i dont know how engine this small can be compared with Cruze or or VW twins ...

But i dont know how engine this small can be compared with Cruze or or VW twins or laura, all these are of different class as compared to the engine spec. And yeah cruze has greater interiors and a powerful engine same as the case of laura and VW.

I am wondering how people are not looking at the engine which is in competition with fiesta or swift or linea or punto (may be a car in this segment with higher cost?), and it is compared as vehicle as such with the class which it is, in petrol versions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by miharbe

Thats a great review. I still do not get why are auto companies not launching automatic transmission in diesel vehicles. I just do not get the logic behind such a move. I believe that as much fun it is to drive a manual for primary city driving an automatic gear box would be the best.

@miharbe

I think you have not following the Auto industry much..There is Auto in Cruze, Skoda Superb or Laura (ofcourse all are diesel vehicles. Sorry if i have missed any in this list). The launching of Auto depends on how many takers are there for those (and the trend is changing, there are many takers for Auto in india too). You cannot blame all auto manufacturers as a whole, but should give credit to whoever has done so, definitely there is positive a change in this scenario than mentioned in your quote.

Only thing I did not note: Height Adjustment for driver seat. Is it available?

Of all the above I see Fog lamps as the main. Though I had posts/reviews/exchanges that HID lamps were also very good.
But on the whole, the way I see it, except for fog lamps, rest can be sacrificed to get the G trim as compared to GL.
For all the rest, G is pretty much loaded. (Sans the higher bells and whistles of what Cruze comes with like auto-start/stop etc).
12.81L (ex-showroom Bangalore) for this trim, seems like a very good buy, if we leave the engine argument aside.

This would turn out to be a very good work horse. I am perfectly OK if someone forces ahead of me even in a small car
(that never dents my ego). But the comfort (front and back seat) and the FE for the highways, would make it a
beautiful machine to buy. A real killer deal.

I think my wife has a reason why this was launched at this time. The Delhi Govt. has (or is about to) decided to add 10,000 AC cabs (like Meru) in Delhi. Maybe Toyota wants to pick up a toehold into that market. It is part of the CWG developments. Going by the experience of my friends it is cheaper to take a Meru Cab (AC radio cab) than the Black-Yellow monsters. So this may also break the menace.

I think my wife has a reason why this was launched at this time. The Delhi Govt. has (or is about to) decided to add 10,000 AC cabs (like Meru) in Delhi. Maybe Toyota wants to pick up a toehold into that market. It is part of the CWG developments. Going by the experience of my friends it is cheaper to take a Meru Cab (AC radio cab) than the Black-Yellow monsters. So this may also break the menace.

TATAs have already bagged the order. I think the timing is more to do with the oncoming launch of Etios, which will feature the same engine. Toyota would have decided against a bigger diesel engine, as that will mean expensive suspension, NVH upgrades etc, taking the price even further up.

Altis is anyway not a chassis for spirited driving, so the 1.4 D4D is probably an adequate engine if one can forget the 1400cc part for a moment, and just drive a way a typical Toyota owner drives or driven.

I am not sure if someone willing to spend 12L for a corolla will be worried about fuel effeciency.
For him the prime requirement should be power (and/or) refinement.

Oh believe me, you will be very surprised to know how many actually look at FE.

Quite right. Acceleration and speed is what matters, at least on highway. No matter what some say about they not giving much importance to speed, when a smaller car shoots past you and when you can't catch up with it, it just wipes smiles off all occupants' faces ( of big car ) and drivers tries to cheer 'em up by muttering something like "let him go, we are not in a hurry. We got all the time there is". But deep inside it hurts. And these days we are spoiled by scorching diesels which run neck to neck with petrols.

So with all the technology they have, can't Toyota squeeze out some more power out of their engine?

Last edited by Technocrat : 26th July 2010 at 23:20.
Reason: Quote fixed

I think my wife has a reason why this was launched at this time. The Delhi Govt. has (or is about to) decided to add 10,000 AC cabs (like Meru) in Delhi. Maybe Toyota wants to pick up a toehold into that market. It is part of the CWG developments. Going by the experience of my friends it is cheaper to take a Meru Cab (AC radio cab) than the Black-Yellow monsters. So this may also break the menace.

Sorry to pop your bubble mate, but you are not going to be riding a Altis Meeru cab any time soon. Corrolla/Altis cabs are generally picked up only by cab providers to corporates and hotels. Not metered taxis like meerus or call taxi services. For low end taxis the TCO including purchase price matters as they have to buy large numbers. Altis is never going to be a threat to Indica/Indigo in this perspective. So, let's not get carried away too much with the Taxi tag. BTW, I have seen many Camry Taxis (with yellow boards) belonging to hotels.